9 investigates costly impact of I-77 tolls as businesses leave

Channel 9 discovered some crashes in the I-77 toll zone skyrocketed as much as 120 percent after construction started in 2016.

While the crashes are surging, a 9 investigation discovered that businesses are now leaving.

"This desk, monitors, a couple boxes and we're out of here," business owner Mike Lates said.

Lates started Timely Bill, a software business, eight years ago off I-77 in Huntersville.

Now, he's packing up and shipping his business 15 miles away to escape the jaw-grinding gridlock on I-77.

"Eventually, it gets to a point where you can't sustain it anymore and it's time to move," he said.

He's moving his company's high-tech jobs closer to Brookshire Boulevard in Denver so his 12 employees don't keep burning up valuable hours sitting in traffic.

The longer they're stuck on the road, the less money they're making in the office.

He even lets one employee work from home to avoid a loss in productivity.

"It wasn't just 77. As 77 got worse, (so did highways) 73, 21. You know, it impacted all the other roads, so it just became unbearable," he said.

Lates is getting out because he doesn't think adding two toll lanes on I-77 will help his employees.

The tolls are being built to give drivers a reliable travel time. They're not expected to reduce congestion for drivers in the free lanes.

"We've worked with three dozen different companies that have made decisions to locate into different areas,” said commercial real estate agent Tom MacMahon.

MacMahon is one of 50 commercial realtor estate brokers in Lake Norman.

They all discuss trends in the market, and he said they've determined at least 100 companies have decided to go elsewhere to avoid the tolls and the traffic.

MacMahon said they're seeing a 20 percent drop in businesses moving to the area.

"There's a lot at stake," said Bill Russell, the head of the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce.

He said he just got back from Raleigh, where he pleaded with lawmakers to buy the North Carolina Department of Transportation out of its 50-year toll contract with I-77 Mobility Partners.

It's estimated the penalty to break the contract would cost the state at least $82 million.

"The millions of dollars of economic impact in terms of penalties pales in comparison with the billions of dollars of impact to our overall commerce and quality of life and the economic development," Russell said.

So, just how many companies are taking off?

That's impossible to quantify because the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce doesn't have updated information for the 3,000 businesses listed there in 2015.

Some business owners worry the I-77 corridor could eventually look like Independence Boulevard in east Charlotte. Thirty years ago, it was a vibrant retail corridor. The businesses that filled the now dilapidated shopping centers moved out when freeway construction and congestion made it hard for customers and employees to access the shops.

Lake Norman is now facing the same challenges.

"It's disappointing; you don't want to leave the area." Lates said. "You like what you've been around, what you're comfortable with, but it eventually gets to a point where you can't sustain it anymore."

He said when businesses such as his bail out, hundreds of thousands of dollars in economic impact follows them right out the door and out of the I-77 corridor in Lake Norman.

Right now, NCDOT officials are reviewing the contract for the I-77 tolls to see if they should make any changes.

[RELATED: State paying $100,000 to review controversial I-77 project]

They promise to take the results of the review into consideration when they plan their two new toll projects for Independence Boulevard and I-485.

Those new projects are expected to go under contract this year.

The proposed Independence Boulevard toll lanes would stretch from Conference Drive in Charlotte to I-485 in Matthews.

The proposed I-485 tolls in south Charlotte would stretch between I-77 and Independence Boulevard.

Here's a breakdown of the four options that could be recommended as changes to the I-77 contract:

1. Cancel the contract and pay the penalty. Road widening would be continued with a different vendor under NCDOT's supervision.  The end result would have two new lanes. One would be a managed lane maintained by NCDOT, the other would be a general purpose lane.
2. NCDOT buys out the contract but allows the current construction company to finish widening I-77. The end result would have two new lanes. One would be a managed lane maintained by NCDOT, the other would be a general purpose lane.
3. NCDOT allows Cintra to create the proposed toll lanes but hardens the shoulders. Drivers would be allowed to use the shoulders as a new, general purpose lane during peak traffic hours in the morning and the evening.
4. This option would result in paying a penalty because the current company managing the toll contract would lose revenue. Discounts would be offered to drivers who frequently use the toll lanes.

Cox Media Group